We Got Each Other (Let's Take It From There)
by MagicInHerMadness
Summary: Mike makes an old dream come true for Ginny


**A/N: A Couple of Forevers by Chrisette Michelle has been stuck in my head for like 3 days, and I can't stop thinking about Bawson dancing to it. So here it is.**

That smile made it all worth it. Wearing a full tux for the first time since he got married. Being an errand boy for Evelyn (he now knew why everyone declined the job). Trimming his beard (he was a firm believer that a man who would shave his beard for a woman deserved neither, but he had gone to the barber shop anyway and had it cleaned up). Every annoying moment of the past two weeks was worth it when he saw her face.

How Evelyn had kept the event's purpose a surprise was a testament to the woman's commitment to her missions. Blip called her superwoman, and now Mike believed him. Ginny was completely clueless to the nature of Evelyn's party, though she had asserted-threatened, rather-that it had better not be a birthday party. Evelyn had assured her with an eyeroll that it wasn't. Now the pitcher sat on the bed, grinning at the bundle of purple fabric in her hands. Mike couldn't move his own smile as he looked at her face, an expression of such naked delight that it almost stopped his heart. "It's a real prom dress!"

"Real deal. Right out Bloomingdale's formal wear section," Evelyn replied, grinning too. She wore a shining strapless dusky orange dress with a fluttering skirt. "Blip thought we should get you one of those princess dresses, but I know my girl better than that."

Mike had to admit that the dress looked like Ginny. It was a pinkish purple, with a high halter neck on its bedazzled bodice and a flared pleated skirt. She held onto the dress like it might disappear then looked up at Evelyn again. "Wait. Why do I need a prom dress?"

"Because you're going to prom. Surprise!" Evelyn grinned, bouncing on her glittered heels. "I know you didn't want a birthday party, so I didn't throw you one. Tonight is Ginny Baker's Padres prom. We've got punch and photo booths and a disco ball. And someone's gonna be king and queen soon."

"I'm gonna be prom queen!" Ginny exclaimed, and Mike thought her smile might fall off her face.

Evelyn smirked. " _I'm_ gonna be prom queen, Gin."

Ginny laughed, bubbling and sweet, and Mike sighed. Blip smirked at him but didn't comment, and Mike checked his expression, reminding himself that this was just a nice thing for a teammate. No one except Blip and Evelyn knew that he'd paid for everything, down to the surprisingly expensive prom dress. He couldn't believe there were parents spending hundreds of dollars on dresses that would end up discarded on hotel room floors or covered in vomit. But again, there was that smile (she hadn't put the dress down yet). Amelia emerged from the bathroom, wearing a simple black satin gown. She smiled at Mike and Blip. "Okay, boys out. We've gotta get Ginny prom ready."

Blip looked at Mike. "Wanna go record Gremlin making an ass of himself on the dance floor?"

Mike smiled. "Nothing would make me happier."

They left and Amelia shut the door. She sat at Evelyn's vanity and pulled a flask from her purse. Seeing Ginny's expression, she smiled. "What? It's not prom if you're not tanked."

"Good point." Evelyn took the flask and drank from it, wincing as she swallowed. "That'll put some hair on your chest."

"It's called Fireball. This new guy I'm seeing turned me on to it."

"That college kid?" Ginny smirked at her agent.

"He's a grad student," Amelia corrected.

"Like that makes a difference."

Amelia shrugged. "Every agent in the business is dating a twenty-something. Let me be one of the boys, Gin."

Evelyn laughed as she sat beside Ginny. She gathered her loose curls in one hand and used the other to skillfully twist them into a bun atop her head. Ginny shook her head as Amelia pulled out a makeup case. Evelyn levelled her with a frown. "It's your prom night. Don't take this from me, Ginny."

Ginny raised her hands in surrender and Evelyn went to work on her face. "Your skin is ridiculous. Oh, to be twenty-something again."

Amelia snorted. "I wouldn't. Inexperienced guys, entry-level jobs, adult acne... No thank you. Thirty-something's doing me just fine."

Evelyn nodded. "It is nice to be settled, but I'm a firm believer that youth is wasted on the young. The cast-iron stomach and lightning fast metabolism; being able to stay out until dawn, go to work, and do it all over again; the delusion of youth because life hasn't knocked you on your ass yet."

Ginny shrugged. "Ev, don't act like you're not living the dream."

Evelyn smiled. "That I am."

She finished Ginny's makeup and Ginny smiled as she pulled on the dress in front of the mirror. Amelia walked over with a pair of bejeweled gold sandals. "Evelyn wanted to get you these sky-high heels but I knew better than that."

Ginny smiled as she put on the shoes. She looked back at Evelyn. "I can't believe you did this for me, Evelyn."

Evelyn shrugged but her smile was just as wide as Ginny's. "I couldn't believe you'd never been to a high school dance. And I'll never have my own little girl to get ready for prom."

Ginny spun around before the mirror, laughing at her twirling skirt. Amelia's eyes pricked with tears that surprised her. She tried to remember when she'd seen anyone as happy as the girl who was quickly becoming more than a client. "You look amazing, Gin."

"Thank you." She turned to Evelyn and her smile softened. "Thank you."

"Stop before you make me cry," Evelyn chided, blinking rapidly. "Well let's get a move on before those men destroy my backyard."

X

Ginny wasn't sure what she'd expected. She knew what proms were supposed to look like (paper decorations and mood lighting), but Evelyn hadn't done anything of the sort. The backyard was lined with hundreds of white Christmas lights, and the gazebo had been removed to make way for a dance floor that shimmered in the moonlight. There was a table of refreshments, complete with a big glass punch bowl, and a row of photo booths. Ginny smiled at her teammates and their dates, dressed to the nines and slow dancing to a song she recognized from every prom scene in every 80's movie.

Evelyn squealed. "Oh this is our song! Blip!"

She scurried away to find her husband and Ginny grinned at them quickly getting onto the dance floor, smiling like it was really senior year and they'd finally decided to go all the way. Tommy sidled up to her, bumped her with his elbow. True to form, he wore a powder blue tuxedo and white shoes. He smiled at her. "Guess I can't be your date. We clash."

She looked at him and laughed, doubling over. "I can't say I'm surprised."

"Laugh all you want. I look damn good Baker. Better dance with me now before one of these models falls in love."

He offered his hand and Ginny shook her head as she took it. He led her onto the floor and placed his hands dangerously low on her waist. Ginny smirked. "Mind your manners, Gremlin."

His raised his hands an inch, laughing, and Ginny wrapped her arms around his neck. They swayed to the music and she found herself smiling as she lay her head on his shoulder. "So who'd you take to prom, Tommy?"

"Lindsay Simmons," he answered. "I'd had a crush on her since the ninth grade and she finally said yes. Took me three dances to get her in the back of my Camaro."

Ginny snorted. "Classy."

"Like you were any different," he teased.

She looked up at him with a frown. "I was, actually. I never went to prom. I was leaving for a training camp the next day and my dad didn't think it was a good idea. It was just as well. My boyfriend dumped me when I made it and he didn't."

Tommy wasn't sure what to do with his face so he remained expressionless and shrugged. "You didn't miss much. Bad music, sneaking cheap booze in the bathroom, three minutes of embarrassingly bad sex-myself excluded, of course-in some crummy hotel. It's not nearly the big deal everyone makes it."

"It is when you wanna be normal. I had almost done it, Miller. I had a boyfriend and everything. Then Dad came home over the moon about this training camp and everything fell apart in a day." She shrugged, the corners of her mouth turned down for the first time that evening.

Tommy squeezed her face affectionately. "Come on now, Baker. Don't make me kiss you."

Ginny laughed and swatted his hand away. "And you wonder why I don't open up to you, Gremlin."

He shook his head. "Look, I went to prom all four years of high school and I can't remember anything special about them. But you'll never forget anything about what you've done these past few years."

On the other side of the yard, Mike frowned as he watched Tommy and Ginny dance. He wondered why she kept laughing, what was so damn funny, and why Tommy was touching her face. He didn't realize Amelia was at his side until she snorted. "Well shit, Lawson. Go over there and slug him."

Mike looked at her with wide eyes then shook his head. "Just don't need Tommy fucking this up. We're finally on a streak and I'll be damned if we lose it over his libido."

Amelia rolled her eyes. "I was gonna offer you a drink but you're wasted enough on your delusions."

Mike snorted. "You don't know me."

"A pleasure that is certainly all mine," she quipped as the song ended. "Now's your chance to ask her to dance, or perhaps you'd like to stand over here and annoy me a little more."

"I think we have a relationship that's best left at arm's length." Mike walked away, headed for Ginny as Tommy let her go. "Mind if I cut in, Miller?"

Tommy gave his captain a wry smile. "Been waiting on it as a matter of fact."

He nodded at Ginny then walked away, quickly surrounding himself with models eager to talk about his tux. Mike shook his head. "I bet they're not even old enough to remember when that tux was cool."

Ginny laughed. "So you're saying he stole it out of your closet."

Mike laughed, rolling his eyes. "For your information, you little shit, I went to prom in 1997."

Ginny snorted. "I went to kindergarten in 1997."

"Big year." Mike laughed then remembered the bane of his two weeks of work. "Come with me. I wanna show you something."

Ginny looked surprised but followed him into the house then into the kitchen. She looked at him with raised eyebrows. "If this is some kind of prank, I'll kill you, Lawson."

Mike shook his head. "As ripe as this evening is for pranks, I wouldn't do that to you. I know what tonight means to you."

Its meaning to Ginny had meant enough to him to spend $5,000 like it was cab fare. Ginny blushed, watching him rummage through the refrigerator. He finally produced a clear plastic box holding her corsage. The smile that lit up her face made his stomach tighten as he opened the box, careful not to let his hand shake. "You would not believe how hard it is to find a purple calla lily corsage in the middle of July, Baker. You owe me so much."

He looked up at her when she didn't have a snappy reply and found her eyes glued to the flower, her smile immovable. "Mike... It's a real corsage, like for a real prom."

It would have been the perfect moment to kiss her if she wasn't his rookie and their entire team wasn't a hundred feet away. Instead he smiled. "This is a real prom, rookie."

"Who told you I like lilies?"

Mike shrugged, unwilling to admit that he remembered the comment from a year-old interview. "I'm a lady's man, Baker. Reading women is one of my many skills."

"Avoiding venereal diseases is another, but that's a conversation for a different day, Lawson." She laughed her head off at her own joke and Mike smiled, wondering if she knew she was as cute as she was.

He put the corsage on her thin wrist and they went back to the party. She grinned at the DJ's selection. "Oh I love this song!"

The boppy techno beat made Mike's knees ache just from hearing it. He shook his head. "I'm gonna go spike the punch, Baker."

She gave him a brief, small frown, but quickly recovered and skipped to the dance floor. Even the sight of Duarte dancing with her couldn't make him frown, not when she was so happy, swinging her thin hips to the music. He wondered if she'd been drinking, or if she was just that elated to be at a prom. He made his way to the punch bowl and rolled his eyes at Blip joining him. "Not tonight, Sanders."

"So I'm supposed to ignore the fact that you shelled out five grand to give her a prom because Evelyn mentioned in passing that she never had one. Nevermind that look on your face when you saw her holding the dress. Let's talk about how we drove two hours both way to get her that corsage from LA because you remembered an interview from _a year ago_ where she said calla lilies were her favorite flower. Or better yet let's talk about that look on your face when she was dancing with Miller." Blip laughed. "No I know. Let's talk about how you called Evelyn at dawn because Ginny has to be prom queen."

"It's her prom, Sanders. Why wouldn't she be queen?"

Blip shrugged. "Why does she need to be a twenty-four-year-old prom queen, Lawson?"

Mike rolled his eyes. "Would you just get to it?"

"Absolutely, your highness."

It was only fair. If he was paying for the damn prom, he should be king. And it's not as though anyone else was fit for it. Blip wouldn't do it unless Evelyn could be queen, and that couldn't happen as much as he loved them both. Tommy would ruin the moment. And he wouldn't even hear of Duarte. So that left him to wear the crown and dance with Ginny after they crowned her. He watched as Blip took the mic from the DJ booth. "Alright, Padres, it's time to crown our king and queen."

Mike couldn't help stealing a glance at Ginny and he smiled at the way she was grinning as Duarte pointed to her. He looked back at Blip. "Because narcissism and nepotism go hand in hand, our prom king is none other than Captain Mike Lawson."

The players laughed as they clapped for him and he walked to the stage to accept his crown. Ginny smiled at him from the middle of the crowd and shouted, "Speech!"

If it had been anyone but her, he wouldn't have taken the mic. He smiled. "I would say thank you but I deserve this so I guess I should thank myself."

"Somebody get a hook!" Tommy shouted and Mike barely looked at him, instead watching Ginny double over with laughter.

He smiled. "My first act as king is to crown my queen..."

Ginny straightened up then, her eyes wide as she looked at him. He smiled. "Miller, I know you had your heart set on being queen, but now that we've got an actual woman on the team, you should cut your hair and move on. Get up here, Baker!"

Ginny shrieked and skipped to the stage. Mike smiled as he took the ornate crown from Blip and placed it on her head. He turned back to the crowd. "Ladies and gentlemen, your Padres prom queen and the current biggest pain in my ass, Ginny Baker!"

Ginny grinned at the crowd of teammates applauding her, and a million little wounds healed at once. She didn't expect to cry, and Mike didn't expect her tears either. But he handed over his handkerchief and wrapped his arm around her. "Come on, Baker. You're stealing my thunder here."

She laughed through her tears and wiped her face, careful of her makeup. She smiled at him. "I can't believe I'm prom queen."

Mike smiled. "And lucky as hell to have the Mike Lawson as your prom king."

She laughed harder as Blip took the mic back. "And now in prom tradition, our king and queen will have their first dance."

Mike frowned. "Shit. Forgot this part."

Ginny laughed. "It could be worse. You could be doing this with Tommy."

"That's true." Mike laughed as he offered her his hand then led her to the center of the dance floor. His stomach quivered with excitement as the DJ began the song he'd spent an hour on the internet searching for after catching a few strains through Ginny's headphones on the bus. He wasn't even sure who Chrisette Michelle was, just that Ginny had good taste in music after he listened to a few of her songs.

"I love this song!" she exclaimed. Mike almost told her that he knew, but that would require more information than he cared to divulge.

"It's one of my favorites," he replied (not technically a lie) as he took her in his arms. He didn't dance with her for many reasons, but the way she fit against him was definitely first on the list. Next came the way she was smiling at him as he swayed her to the song ("a couple of forevers" was wishful thinking in their case, but he'd take it). He smiled. "So how was your first prom, rookie?"

She couldn't stop her smile from broadening. "This is the best night of my life. I can't believe you guys did this for me."

Mike shrugged. "I guess we like you around here, Baker."

X

He was having one more drink for the road when Ginny found him. The crowd had dwindled when the champagne dried up. Evelyn lay on a lawn chair, drunkenly asleep as Blip took down the Christmas lights. Tommy had taken home a few of the waitresses, stuffing them in his uber like a clown car. Mike mixed a little punch with his vodka and took a sip. Ginny poured herself a cup of the champagne and fruit punch (a surprisingly appetizing concoction) and levelled him with a moony smile. "I know what you did."

"I did not have sexual relations with that woman." She laughed her head off at his surprisingly skilled Bill Clinton impression, and he smiled.

"That's as much of a lie now as it was then, old man. But I'm talking about all this. Evelyn blabbed before she passed out," Ginny explained.

Mike's face reddened. "I just..."

Ginny gave him a secret smile. "I know."

Mike pulled himself together, gave her that Mike Lawson™ smile. "I guess I like you, Baker."

"Guess so." She moved to stand in front of him. "Guess I like you too, Lawson."

"There's no guess about that, rookie."

Ginny laughed. "Well it was still the sweetest thing anyone's ever done for me, old man."

Mike didn't expect the gentle kiss she pressed to his cheek, dangerously close to the corner of his mouth. "Thank you."

And Ginny didn't expect him to return the favor, much closer to her mouth than she had gotten to his. "You're welcome."

They spent a few minutes just staring at each other, anticipating welling up between them. Mike rubbed the back of his neck, wondered why the hell he couldn't be around her without going red in the face. "In case I forgot to say it earlier, you look beautiful Baker. Ginny. I'm not sure what to call you looking like you do."

Ginny smiled, her own face flushed. "You look nice too, Mike. I didn't think you'd clean up so well."

He gave her his Mike Lawson™ smile. "The tux was made for me, rookie."

Ginny glanced around and saw that Blip had gone into the house. No one would be a witness except a sleeping Evelyn, so she took her shot. She fulfilled the wish of a Ginny ten years in her past who for all her growing up still had butterflies for Mike Lawson. His lips were softer than she'd imagined and she finally discovered that that scent—soap and something woodsy and something else that haunted her as she lay in her too large bed—was coming from his beard and hair (shampoo? or just Mike?).

He held her delicately, like she might break, or run. And everything in his mind was screaming for him to stop, to put their boundaries back where they belonged, but he couldn't stop when he'd been waiting for this since he'd met her. And he definitely couldn't stop when she was feeling it too, when her pulse was racing just as quickly. Blip stood in the kitchen, watching through the window above the sink. He waited until they sheepishly parted before he went back outside to collect his wife. Ginny smiled at him as she leaned against Mike, his blazer shrouding her lithe frame, her head on his shoulder as she yawned. Blip smirked. "You two should call a cab."

Mike laughed. "Baker's trying to take advantage of me."

Ginny snorted. "Like it's so hard. Come on old man. My uber's on the way."

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do," Blip called.

"Like he ever got to sleep with a prom queen," Mike muttered, smiling as Ginny laughed.

"Who says you will either?"

 **A/N: Don't forget to review! XOXOXO**


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